Search

This report describes eighteen projects that explored how commercial cloud computing services can be utilized for scientific computation at national laboratories. These demonstrations ranged from deploying proprietary software in a cloud environment to leveraging established cloud-based analytics workflows for processing scientific datasets. By and large, the projects were successful and collectively they suggest that cloud computing can be a valuable computational resource for scientific computation at national laboratories.

Policy memo that provides a brief description of the Associate of Arts/Oregon Transfer degree (AA/OT) program and proposes policy options intended to address current program limitations. Under the direction of Oregon Legislative Assembly, officials from the community college and university sectors developed and implemented a set of general requirements for a block-transfer degree. Any student who completes an Oregon community college Associate of Arts/Oregon Transfer degree and who transfers to an institution in the Oregon University System has met the lower-division general education requirements of the university's baccalaureate degree programs. The author asserts that despite the transfer program's popularity within the transfer-student landscape of Oregon, the program presents significant limitations for those students who enter the community college with specific career goals and, as a result, could benefit from a more individualized curriculum. Some of the problematic issues with the degree include: campus-to-campus variability, sequence requirements, advising issues, and community college to community college transfer. The policy memo concludes with recommendations to improve the AA/OT initiative. Examples include mandating uniform implementation of the current AA/OT, improving the advising function of community colleges, and establishing a statewide, standardized, transferable, lower-division general education curriculum. (RC)

This study examined the state of Oregon's efforts at administrative reform in public higher education. The early stages of implementation of the Higher Education Administrative Efficiency Act initiated by Oregon during the 1995 session were analyzed. Four factors were found to be primarily responsible for the need to reform public higher education in Oregon: (1) the presence of financial, social, and political factors; (2) widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo; (3) supportive internal leadership; and (4) timing. The study reinforced the proposition that professional development is an essential part of the successful implementation of public policy. In the early stages of implementing the Act, there was a wide disparity between how successful mid- and upper-level administrators perceived implementation to be. Street-level administrators viewed their new responsibilities under the Act as detracting from human efficiencies, while upper-level administrators viewed increased autonomy as a positive contributor to human efficiency. The study concluded that areas which affect the development and implementation of large-scale administrative change efforts include communication within the organization, access to staff development activities, and the use of available technologies to ease difficulties associated with implementing administrative reform. (Contains 18 references.) (PRW)

This paper explores technical questions of ethnographic study and uses as an example an actual episode observing college students and the subsequent decisions and steps taken to produce a written account. In particular, the paper seeks to address the question of researcher subjectivity by examining some issues relating to the practice of incorporating a field worker's voice into research reports. The first section of the paper outlines some views on the field worker's stance taken from the fields of mainstream sociology and anthropology and then supplements these with ideas from a feminist orientation. Subsequently a first-person by "impressionist" account is offered of an evening spent at a fraternity house by a participant-observer at a large, all-house party. The account includes commentary and interpretation informed in part by the author's own biography. A following section describes how the field notes were produced and transcribed into readable text. It also discusses his personal feelings about writing the material and sharing personal background material in the text, choice of tense, and how he inserted himself in the account while trying to minimize interrupting the story's flow. Final thoughts address how a story such as this is enriched by including autobiographical elements. Contains 19 references. (JB)

This report examines the culture of college/university fraternities in order to better understand the relationship between alcohol and fraternity life and to analyse the difficulties in controlling alcohol use and abuse within the collegiate "Greek system." The first chapter describes the serious problem of irresponsible, hazardous use of alcohol on college campuses in general, and particularly by fraternity members. It argues for the use of cultural perspectives as analytical lenses through which to understand the role of alcohol in fraternity life. Chapter 2 summarizes the study of fraternity culture and some of the relevant cultural properties of four fraternities participating in the study. Chapter 3 looks at the socialization practices of fraternities. Chapter 4 interprets the activities, events, and group policies and practices described in chapters 2 and 3 from a cultural view in attempting to determine how these properties work together to create and sustain a strong fraternity culture that exerts considerable influence over its members. Chapter 5 offers conclusions and recommendations for individuals and institutions committed to the type of long-term strategies needed to bring about cultural change in men's fraternities. Consideration is given to tactics that can be employed by national fraternities, colleges, universities, and individual fraternity chapters. Appendices include a history of college fraternities. (Contains 124 references.) (GLR)

This study sought to measure what factors contribute to the learning and personal development of traditional and new majority students at six metropolitan institutions: University of Alabama, Birmingham; University of Louisville (Kentucky); Wichita State University (Kansas); University of Lowell (Massachusetts); Cleveland State University (Ohio); and University of Toledo (Ohio). The study used the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ) to solicit information on student effort (involvement), student perception of their campus environment, and how much students believe they have gained in certain areas. Demographic information was also obtained on year-in-school, age, and enrollment status. The total number of subjects was 3,084. Results of factor analysis suggested the following conclusions: (1) learning gains of traditional-age full-time students and new majority students are affected by institutional environmental factors and student involvement factors; (2) learning gains are influenced by age and enrollment status; (3) age and enrollment status interact with each other and with involvement and environmental factors to affect gains in learning and personal development. Three appendixes contain CSEQ scales. Includes 21 references and 1 table. (JB)